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- A Stuijt
- Retired South African medical journalist, ex-Sunday Times of Johannesburg.
Missing in South Africa
14:26 | 
Posted by
A Stuijt |
The Pink Ladies is an organisation which concentrates on finding back missing people in South Africa. They have their own Facebook page to keep people informed. Following are some recent posters of missing individuals.
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Unknown white girl set alight while alive – Orange Farm, November 16 2009
Dec 11 2009 -- Capt Mike van Aardt, one of Johannesburg's top crime-detectives, has taken on the gruesome murder investigation of a blonde girl with tiny size-4 feet and pink streaks in her hair -- who was set alight while still alive next to a road near the Orange Farm squatter camp south of Johannesburg on November 16 2009.
A week after starting his investigation, Captain van Aardt released a forensic sketch of what the white victim may have looked like and a photograph of the shirt she wore. Forensic examinations showed that the girl had been alive when she was set alight.
He appeals to the public to help identify the young blonde -- believed to be aged between 15 and 20. She clearly was a teen and had pink-striped strands in her hair.
'Her identity is crucial to hunting down her killers'
Van Aardt, who works with crack detective Piet Byleveld, has also investigated the notorious Moffat Park serial killer, the Sheldean Human murder, the Bruma Lake serial murders and various other high-profile cases.
The young white girl’s body was discovered in the early hours of November 16 next to Welgevonden Road. A passer-by reportedly saw the flames and called the police, although recent police reports said it was a police patrol van that came across the burning body shortly before 5am.
Police officers at the scene told detectives there were no suspicious-looking vehicles in the area and that patrol cars in the vicinity had been alerted immediately. But as the morning traffic rush began, it became impossible to spot suspicious-looking cars.
The well-groomed white woman weighed around 60kg and was 1,7 metres tall. She had blonde hair about 35cm long, wore a size 4 shoe and a size 34A bra. Her fingernails were painted a pearl colour and her toes had red nailpolish. She lay about a metre from the main road and no effort had been made to hide her body.
Anyone with information is urged to call Van Aardt on telephone 0 082 575 1808. http://www.beeld.com/Content/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/1928/7b843e83915343b98730223d5a79f040/11-12-2009-11-44/Blonde_meisie_se_verbrande_lyk_steeds_nie_ge%C3%ABien_
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Policing reports Dec 19 2009
Summary: frantic search for missing Down’s Syndrome boy
Search for missing Down's Syndrome boy 
A desperate search is under way for a 10-year-old boy with Down's Syndrome who has gone missing near the wetlands at Masiphumelele/Ocean View. Siyamthanda Mndayi was last seen on Wednesday evening near the wetlands not far from his home. He had been playing with some children but when his mother went to look for him at about 6pm he could not be found. Police said a massive search was launched and they went from door to door until 3am.Police spokesman Inspector November Philander said.The Pink Ladies, an organisation which searches for missing children, made pamphlets for distribution. Siyamthanda was wearing a dark-brown sleeveless T-shirt, navy blue shorts and brown sandals. He has a stocky build, short black hair and a recent scar on his lip. Anyone with information should phone Inspector Greeff on 021 783 8313.http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20091219093142203C507827
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Man in Vanderbijlpark shot while dumping garden-rubbish close to his home
An unnamed man, in his late 40s, was disposing of garden refuse at a rubbish dump close to his Vanderbijlpark home when he was attacked and shot twice in the chest on Friday evening, said ER24 spokesman Lloyd Krause."It is believed that his assailants had intended to hijack his vehicle," Krause said. The man managed to flee the scene after the shooting and drove back to his home in Drummond Street. He alerted his family and lay down outside his home, Krause said. His wife flagged down an off-duty ER24 paramedic who alerted his colleagues.Paramedics arrived within three minutes of the call-in. However, at the paramedics' arrival the man was already unconscious.He was declared dead shortly afterwards, he said. - SapaFull Story... http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=nw20091219113811458C336614
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444 dead in traffic at start of Christmas migration
The festive season is officially here. Full Story...
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Cops nab two security guards among seven suspected house burglars
Seven men have been arrested in connection with a house robbery in Savannah Hills in Midrand, Pretoria police said on Friday. Constable Sam Shivambo said the men, including two security guards aged between 30 and 35, were arrested in Mamelodi on Friday after being found in possession of two stolen cars.
The vehicles, a Mercedes Benz and an Opel Corsa were stolen during a house robbery on Thursday night. The men allegedly broke into the house of an unnamed 45-year-old man, stole a number of expensive household appliances and fled in the two cars. They were allegedly found in possession of the appliances during their arrest. The men are expected to appear in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court soon on charges of house robbery, possession of stolen vehicles and possession of stolen property. – Sapa http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=nw20091218190859276C392136
Durban man raped - Premier
A 19-year-old man was raped, allegedly by a 50-year-old man in Durban's Inanda suburb, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Zweli Mkhize said on Friday. He called on communities to stand up and "fight" any form of abuse during the festive season."We acknowledge that a primary obstacle to addressing the systemic problem of male rape is that male rape has long been a taboo subject. We encourage victims and the community to report the problem," he said in a statement.The Provincial Men's Forum, a group led by the premier's office, had offered to take up the victim's case. It was not clear when the incident took place or whether any arrests had been made.http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=nw20091218165815367C164895
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'I suffered at the hands of police' – Mala Maharaj
December 19 2009 DURBAN An Asian/South African woman was allegedly beaten up by an angry mob and insulted by metro police officers who "threatened to kill her" while in a holding cell after she had knocked over a pedestrian who ran in front of her car, reports The Independent journalist Fiona Gounden.
Mala Maharaj, 48, of Morningside, said the incident took place on December 4, about 3pm in Dorothy Nyembe (Gardiner) Street. "I was going towards the intersection and the robot was green. A man ran from the left into my path. I applied my brakes, but still knocked him down. I stopped my car and got out to help him."She said she did not think he was badly injured, but then bystanders attacked her while shouting derogatory insults at her. The mob beat her up and smashed her car's windscreen, lights and bonnet.
When Maharaj saw a SAPS vehicle driving past she thought they would assist her so she flagged it down. Instead, she said she was hurled into the van and taken to the Durban Central police station where she was forced to sign a charge sheet. She had to spend the night in jail with no food and water even though she was bleeding. The next day she appeared in court and was released on bail. The case was adjourned to January 28 2010.
She is now laying charges of harassment and intimidation against the officers. The DA's Dianne Kohler Barnard has taken up Maharaj's complaint with the Independent Complaints Directorate. An infuriated Kohler Barnard said: "This woman was utterly terrorised. She did exactly what she was supposed to and stopped at the scene. We need to be able to run to police for help instead of running away from them. This is the work of a bunch of bullies and it needs to stop." Durban metro police Senior Superintendent Joyce Khuzwayo said anyone who was found guilty of such harassment should prepare to face the consequences. SAPS Superintendent Vincent Mdunge said any complaints lodged against officers would be investigated. http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=79&art_id=vn20091219092153698C546383&newslett=1&em=205034a6a20091219ah
What is going on at Baragwanath Hospital?
“Go and buy your own medicines, you whites all have money,’ Heart-bypass patient Cheryl Lindeque, 54, allegedly told at Bara…
18 December 2009 - Sonja van Buul of Beeld newspaper interviewed Mrs Cheryl Lindeque, 54, who had a quadruple heart-bypass six years ago and suffers from diabetes, she said. When her husband Johan lost his artisan-job, they were in such financial problems that she had to become a patient at the state-hospital. Her experiences while she was trying to get admitted for treatment weeks ago, allegedly included being snarled at by a nurse in Ward 21 of Baragwanath Hospital with the words “that’s the problem with you white people. Everything has to fall into your laps.’ The journalist waited three weeks to report the story, waiting for formal comment from the Gauteng health department – which she only received yesterday.
Apparently Mrs Lindeque -- who had an admissions form from a Baragwanath doctor who said she needed urgent admission -- had pleaded with this nurse, saying ‘it doesn’t matter whether I am white or black, please just help me.’ She had arrived at the gigantic hospital in Soweto after she was denied treatment at the Charlotte Maxeke-hospital. A doctor in the Soweto hospital gave her a letter of admission after noting that she was ill and needed urgent admission. “I was sent from pillar to post with this letter apparently because I didn’t have ‘the correct forms’, however nobody seems to know what is going on and nobody wanted to help me. And a notice at Ward 21 also stated that it was ‘full’.
A doctor tried to help the weeping, ill woman, and Lindique pleaded with her to prescribe her medicines. “I can’t help you because I will lose my job, but you will die in this place,’ this female doctor allegedly told Mrs Lindique. She made six attempts to get admitted to ward 21 as was indicated on her admission form – but a nurse there then also told the ill woman to ‘go and buy your own medicines, because you whites all have money.’
Mrs Lindique’s attempts to get admitted to the Soweto hospital were in vain – her son Jean, 26, then took her to a doctor in Pietersburg, where she is treated for heart-failure problems. The Beeld journalist informed the Gauteng health department of the accusations three weeks ago and asked for comment. She waited until this week to publish the story after countless calls to the spokesman Mandla Sidu – who yesterday issued a comment saying that ‘he cannot comment because he’d been ill himself. ‘ http://www.beeld.com/Content/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/1928/7084d31b169848aa870f17e44258214a/18-12-2009-11-00/%E2%80%98Julle_wittes_het_mos_baie_geld,%E2%80%99_moet_siek_vrou_hoor
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6 December 2009
Shock as Steven Masters’ family found him bruised, dehydrated and tied to a bed at Baragwanath Hospital…
Dec 4 2009 - Bruised, dehydrated, tied to a bed, malnourished, his wrists chafed… This was the condition of Huntingdon’s sufferer Steven Masters, 55, when his traumatised family finally found him three days after admission to Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto with a suspected stroke. They had to search through hospital wards to find him…
Steven Masters ‘ son Paul said they were badly traumatised when they got to the hospital, found him missing and were then told to look for him at the mortuary. Instead they searched for him throughout the hospital and finally found him in a ward -- tied to his bed, hungry, thirsty and with bruises all over his body. Paul claims his father told him he was beaten by hospital staff. The 28-year-old son they had to rush him to Milpark Hospital's intensive care unit for severe dehydration treatment.
"We were really shocked at Baragwanath hospital's treatment. They strapped him to the bed and he was badly cut in the wrists," he said.
On November 30 2009 Masters – resident at the Talisman Foundation Rehabilitation Centre in Rosettenville for the past five years as a Huntingdon Disease sufferer – had a stroke. Nursing sister Val Book told The Star they decided to take him to Baragwanath Hospital. Huntington's is a combination of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
Paul said he called the Baragwanath hospital two days later, but was told that no person named Steven Masters was there. "We went to look for him, but when we got there we were told that he was never there. We were then told to go and look for him at the mortuary. We eventually found him in another ward, strapped to the bed. He was malnourished, had no drip and said he had last eaten two days earlier," Paul said.
Paul said that even though his father had been admitted for a stroke, he was being treated for diarrhoea, but had not been given a drip. What was worse, however, were the bruises on his father's legs, back, wrists and arms.
"My dad won't get anyone into trouble deliberately, he has the mind of a child because of his disease. He just said he was pinched and pushed."
Val Cook, a nursing sister at the Talisman Foundation rehabilitation centre, said they decided to take Masters to hospital because he ‘could not stand, was falling about and his speech was difficult to understand’. Masters, she said, uses a walking stick. "We arranged transport and one of the nurses changed his shirt because it was a bit dirty. There was no mark on his body (when he left)," Cook said.
After seeing his father in that condition, Paul wanted him discharged, but there was no doctor to discharge him. "Unfortunately we had to leave him there. It was very traumatic, we could not even give him food. He was badly dehydrated and we could only give him water," Paul said.
- Conflicting statements from Bara: Initially Gauteng Health Department spokesman Mandla Sidu said ‘the man had bruises’ when he was admitted to the Soweto hospital. He said ‘the doctor who treated the patient said Masters has a tendency to bleed internally, hence the bruises. ‘ However – in a later statement, Sidu changed his statement, instead saying that ‘hospital management would probe the cause of the bruises and the outcome communicated to the family.” He also admitted that Masters was tied to the bed ‘because he had a history of running away, especially during medication time: the intention was to ensure that he takes all the medication prescribed to him by a doctor." Sidu also denied Paul's claim that Masters was treated for diarrhoea instead of stroke. "According to the hospital records, Mr Masters was never treated for diarrhoea. He received all the necessary treatment for his condition. Hospital management has, however, noted his family's concerns and are willing to discuss with them his condition, the treatment he is receiving, as well as to answer all other questions that they may have relating to his stay at the hospital," Sidu reportedly said. By journalist Botho Molosankwe http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3474592
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Children grieve for mom who died because paramedics were on strike
July 6 2009 -- 
Karyn Maughan of the Star newspaper describes how the grief-stricken children of Duduzile Dubazane, 37, had clutched the coffin of their mom and wouldn’t let go during her funeral on Friday. The children, Petrus, 12 and Bongani, 21, had tried frantically to get paramedics to save their dying mother – but had been told that the doctors and the emergency services were out on strike.
Bongani told The Star how he had phoned again and again to get paramedics to come save his dying mother. Groaning softly and with tears pouring down his face, he gripped the wooden edges that framed his mother Duduzile's face and wouldn't let go. He was eventually pried away by members of his family. Bongani's 12-year-old brother Petrus, who kept his hands in his pockets throughout his mother's burial at the Elandsfontein cemetery in Ennerdale, tried to mask his emotions. But he couldn't stop tears from seeping out of the corners of his eyes.
Duduzile was denied emergency medical care for nearly 28 hours before her mother Cora Bailey, who is an animal-welfare official managed to get her admitted to the Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto.
Security staff at both the Lawley and Eldorado Park fire stations had earlier told the women they could not help "because of the strike. Mrs Bailey, deeply concerned by Duduzile's worsening appearance and inability to communicate, decided to take her to Kliptown Public Clinic – where an unmoved clinic nurse declared her “absolutely fine" and not in need of medical attention.
Bailey had to throw a temper tantrum before the Kliptown staff would place Duduzile on a drip and call a private ambulance company to rush her to Baragwanath hospital, where she died in her own waste.
Gauteng Health Department spokesman Mandla Sidu said “Duduzile's death was regrettable", that the provincial government had spent "millions" of the taxpayers’ money to contract "30 to 50" private ambulance companies to fill the gap left by striking state paramedics; that he "really wouldn't know" why the family's calls for help had gone unanswered.
At the funeral, Methodist Church Reverend Stanford Coxo presided over the brief ceremony, during which Duduzile's friends praised her warmth, friendliness and kind heart. Duduzile's 87-year-old grandmother Lizzie told The Star that the young woman … ‘is happy where she is. God loves her in that place and she is better there." The Star July 06, 2009
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April 28 2009
‘Baby dies in hospital while doctors went on strike’, doctor tells Beeld newspaper…
28/04/2009 “It was shocking to me when I saw medical professionals just suddenly decide to strike, walk out of the wards and start toi-toiing. (South African protest-dancing). “I have family members who don’t have health insurance, and they have to be delivered into the hands of this,’ a disgusted young Afrikaans doctor of Limpopo told Beeld newspaper on Tuesday. She works at one of the State hospitals which have been nearly paralysed by ongoing doctors’ strikes countrywide, who in its second week. She’s also terrified of providing her name because of reprisals from her fellow-doctors – however, she told the newspaper that a baby had died in one of the hospitals ‘because a Caesarian-section delivery could not be performed in time …’ She aid: “Only two Afrikaans doctors have jobs at this hospital – and we are both working. All the rest of them are striking,’ she said. About the baby’s death, she said: “It was a ‘foetal distress’ case. We don’t know whether it was due to the strike, but the doctor on duty simply did not respond to the emergency calls made to his cellphone…’ She’s so disgusted that she has ‘no intention of working in any state hospital after finishing her required two-year tour of community duty.’
‘These doctors don’t care about their own people…’ 336 striking doctors at Ga-Rankuwa…
Meanwhile all the ‘striking doctors’ have allegedly received letters saying they’d been fired over the past two days, Sowetan newspaper reported. Gauteng health department spokesman J P Louw also noted that 24 striking doctors had also immediately returned to work at Jubilee Hospital in Hammanskraal near Pretoria when they were handed their walking papers. However officials are still trying to find all the 336 striking doctors at the Ga-Rankuwa state hospital. At this hospital, which serves a community of 1,5-million destitute people, military doctors were put to work to help out those few medical personnel who were still refusing to strike. It’s being claimed that the ‘dispute has been settled and that they will all go back to work today or tomorrow. Story here
Monday, 20 October 2008
Girl from Nigel dies of rodent-caused mystery infection at Baragwanath Hospital, Soweto
Oct 19 2008 - PRETORIA, South Africa. Ronél Swanepoel, 18, a pupil at John Vorster Afrikaans High School in Nigel, South Africa, died on 9 October 2008 at the Baragwanath hospital near Soweto, allegedly of leptospirosis (Weil's disease) - a deadly bacterial infection spread through the urine of infected rodents or cattle, and which is not known to spread from people-to-people. That's why her parents are so deeply mystified about the health department 's ordering her coffin hermetically sealed before her burial. She supposedly died of leptospirosis, a bacterial infection caused by contact with rat urine – and also an infectionwhich humans cannot infect each other with, and which can be cured with antibiotics.
The health department won't talk about it at all -- and one of the doctors at the Soweto hospital who had treated her, told Beeld newspaper he 'didn't really know what she'd died off.' The parents were told only ‘informally’ by Baragwanath staffers that she'd died of leptospirosis but nobody wants to tell them anything officially.
Her parents Sarel and Marietjie Swanepoel said the last doctor to treat their girl at Baragwanath Hospital also added even more to the mystery by telling them to 'contact the hospital if we started feeling feverish...'
Leptospirosis causes liver-failure, meningitis and spinal infection and according to her parents, the girl matched these symptoms: she had never been sick a day in her life, but had suddenly fallen ill, turning yellow and her stomach started swelling up after she'd returned from holiday in Hartswater in North West and a farm near Petit at the East Rand. Outbreaks of leptospirosis are usually caused by exposure to water contaminated with the urine of infected animals. Many different kinds of animals carry the bacterium; they may become sick but sometimes have no symptoms. Leptospira organisms have been found in cattle, pigs, horses, dogs, rodents, and wild animals. Humans become infected through contact with water, food, or soil containing urine from these infected animals. This may happen by swallowing contaminated food or water or through skin contact, especially with mucosal surfaces, such as the eyes or nose, or with broken skin. The disease is not known to be spread from person to person. The risk of acquiring leptospirosis can be greatly reduced by not swimming or wading in water that might be contaminated with animal urine. Protective clothing or footwear should be worn by those exposed to contaminated water or soil because of their job or recreational activities. See details on website of Centres for Disease Control, USA: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/leptospirosis_g.htm
The parents now are haunted by the demand from the Gauteng health department 's ordering the girl's coffin sealed hermetically before her burial - but neither the family nor Beeld newspaper received any explanations for this unusual measure for a patient who had ostensably died of a non-infectious ailment... Their spokeswoman Zanele Mngadi wouldn't reply to any questions about the sealing of the coffin, claiming that 'the department wasn't allowed to submit personal information about a patient" - even though Beeld newspaper had obtained written permission to do so from the parents.
The school also was not informed by the department nor by Baragwanath hospital of the exact nature of the bacterial infection which may or may not have killed the pupil and apparently also has infected the teacher. Even so, the head of the school Deon Naudé seemed totally unworried, saying there was 'no reason for concern'.Her parents Sarel and Marietjie Swanepoel said the doctor at Baragwanath Hospital merely told them to 'contact him if we start feeling feverish' They said she fell ill very suddenly. "Her body turned yellow, her stomach swelled up, even the whites of her eyes yellowed. "We thought she had jaundice but the doctor said her liver had failed.' http://www.news24.com/Beeld/Suid-Afrika/0,,3-975_2412367,00.html
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In Dec 2008, 935 of 5,759 budgeted medical posts were vacant at Baragwanath teaching hospital in Soweto:
Dec 14, 2008 - PRETORIA. The overall health of the South African population has deteriorated very rapidly since 1994, when the black-majority government was voted in and the apartheid era - seperate racial development -- officially ended.
This week, the SA Human Rights Commission's review for 2007/2008 revealed that the South African health-care sector has deteriorated so rapidly over the past 15 years, that South Africa now has become one of the few countries in the world where the death rates for children under five years are still growing each year in spite of all the worldwide scientific advances in this field.
And one of the most worrying aspects of this trend is the fact that the country has so few health workers left in the public sector, the SAHRC noted. In 1994, it had 2,1 million registered- and staff nurses. Over the next decade, 700,000 nurses, a full one-third, are set to retire. And they are not being replaced with enough new recruits: the country now has 116 registered nurses and 83 student-nurses for every 100,000 people - and an increasingly sick population to care for.
In December last year, there were only has 26 doctors for every 100,000 people in South Africa -- and 34,9% of all the doctors' posts were vacant countrywide.
At the biggest hospital in the world – the giant teaching Baragwanath in Soweto -- which treats an annual 137,000 bed-patients and births 35,000 babies a year (45% of whom, sadly, now die within a year of birth) -- 935 of the 5,759 budgeted medical posts are now vacant. The total number of vacant nursing posts in the public sector by December 2008 stood at 40,3% - last year 31,5% of these posts were still vacant, so either these 'missing' nurses have left this year past, have died, moved to the private sector, emigrated or retired. http://www.sahrc.org.za/sahrc_cms/downloads/Annual%20Report%2006.pdf
SA hotel in world’s top five
Bushmans Kloof voted world’s top hotel
South Africa’s Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve has been voted the world’s best hotel of 2009. This comes from a survey by travel website Travel+Leisure.The survey, released this week, ranks the tops 500 places to stay across the globe, and was compiled based on the opinions of the website’s experts and thousands of readers.
Located in the Cederberg Mountains area some 3 hours away from Cape Town, Bushmans Kloof, where double rooms start at $715 a night (about R5,300 a night), unseated last year’s top hotel, Singita Sabi Sand in South Africa’s Kruger National Park.
India’s deluxe Oberoi Vanyavilas in Rajasthan, where double rooms begin at $875 (that’s R6,500 a night), took second place.
And in the third spot was Jade Mountain in the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, where room rates start at $1,150 (about R8,600 a night).
Earth Lodge at Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve in South Africa, where rooms cost at least $2,200 - that’s R16,500 - was voted 4th, and Canada’s Inn at Manitou, McKellar, Ontario, where doubles start at $575 (about R4,300), rounded out the top five.
Travel+Leisure, however, said that 66 out of the top 500 hotels cost $250 or less a night (R1,875), which showed luxury doesn’t always have to cost too much, especially as people across the globe have cut back on travel due to the downturn.
“What did we discover in 2009? That in a year filled with challenges, our readers still love hotels that deliver unique experiences and stellar service. Particularly if the price is right,” the website said. http://www.travelandleisure.com.
The top ten in the world:
- * Africa — Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve
- * United States — Inn at Palmetto Bluff, Bluffton, South Carolina
- * Canada — Inn at Manitiou, McKellar, Ontario
- * Europe — Grand Hotel Baglioni, Bologna, Italy
- * Asia — Oberoi Vanyavilas, India
- * Middle East — Four Seasons Hotel Amman, Jordan
- * South America — Palacio Duhau-Park Hyatt Buenos Aires, Argentina
- * Central America — Blancaneaux Lodge San Ignacio, Belize
- * Caribbean — Jade Mountain St. Lucia
- * Australia — Lilianfels Blue Mountains Resort & Spa, Katoomba
- To find them on the Web, click on these links:
Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve or The Earth Lodge at Sabi Sabi
SA military deploys HIV+ soldiers as peacekeepers
SANDF to deploy HIV+ soldiers
2009-12-18 Claiming that it’s impossible to maintain an HIV-free defence force, South Africa will start deploying HIV+ soldiers to peacekeeping operations, a defence ministry spokesperson says. The BBC also reports that 30% of the soldiers in the SA National Defence Force were infected with HIV. Other experts put the rate of infection at 40%.
Ministry of defence and military veterans’ spokesman Ndivhuwo Wa Ha Mabaya said the department had drafted a framework for the way in which HIV positive soldiers should be deployed. The framework was developed after the government lost a court battle in 2008 against a group of HIV positive soldiers, who claimed they were being discriminated against.
Dangerous, vengeful and mutinous behaviour among infected soldiers:
However, a top South African psychiatrist who frequently works with soldiers warned earlier this year that based on her experience, HIV+ soldiers often were dangerously mutinous – and that combined with military hardware, this could be a lethal combination to the surrounding population:
Top psychiatrist Dr Mathsepo Matoane, left, of UNISA in South Africa warned in her little-reported speech at the Saldanha naval academy that with 40% of the SA military force infected with AIDS and (often also co-infected with Tuberculosis) – it was shown that the syndrome caused neurological changes in sufferers -- and created 'dangerous, vengeful and mutinous' behaviour and was 'having a lethal impact on its military forces'.
Prof Matoane warned that this deadly disease-combination is also seen to cause extremely high levels of aggression among especially the male patients in South Africa.
"The SA Defence Force members infected are developing an 'exceedingly self-destructive, vengeful, dangerous mindset," she warned. Such personnel often also operate extremely dangerous military and police-material, such as armed helicopters and military field guns - and this is a particularly lethal combination for their colleagues but also for the surrounding community, she warned. http://www.unisa.ac.za/default.asp?Cmd=ViewContent&ContentID=1309
"These AIDS-infected military members are becoming increasingly mutinous, dangerous and self-destructive as more and more soldiers are falling victim to the lethal combination of AIDS, often worsened by coinfection with Tuberculosis."
The South African Depression and Anxiety Group recognises this psychological impact, and has been running support clinics since 1995, stating that suicides soar in SA because ‘depression is one important symptom’ of HIV- TB co-infected patients. They even publish ‘speaking books’ as tools to combat the suicide epidemic among their illiterate patients.
Higher testosterone levels:
A very small study was also carried out in 2002 by the National Institutes of Health in the USA which noted that of the 20 patients interviewed, they suffered higher than normal levels of depression, but in this small study sample- ‘no significant ratio was observed with aggression”. http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/MeetingAbstracts/ma?f=102201254.html Another study investigated treating such patients against high testosterone levels (black males have demonstrably higher testosterone levels than other races, according to various controversial studies). http://ijsa.rsmjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/8/9/537 . Whatever the medical cause may be, it’s an established fact that South Africa became a very violent society especially after 1994.
87 men per 100,000 killed in homicidal behaviour in SA – against world average of 13.6
Prof Matoane's warning that AIDS/TB -infected military personnel are 'more prone to violence and vengeful behaviour,' is backed up by statistics from the World Health Organisation. This shows that 87 men per 100,000 are being killed in ‘homicidal behaviour’ in South Africa, whereas the global male-homicide rate is 13.6 per 100,000.
South Africa, with some 6,1-million AIDS/TB infected people, is listed as the most violent country in the world, together with Colombia and warzones such as Iraq and the Congo. The deadly co-epidemic may also drive the dramatic rise in violence-driven rapes by township youth gangs, suicides and family murders, with entire families being killed. Yet Prof Matoane’s warning, issued in a speech to the South African military academy in Saldanha near Cape Town, has only been published by one Afrikaans journalist, Erika Gibson of Beeld. . Also see our previous story and also: http://censorbugbear-reports.blogspot.com/2009/03/aidstb-infected-soldiers-lethal-and.html
This week, Mabaya said the Cabinet had approved the framework for the deployment of HIV positive troops at the end of October, and it was now implementing it. "We are holding workshops with all the stakeholders like the soldiers, NGOs, doctors and our deployment partners (the armies of other governments) to implement it," he said.
Support roles
Defence and Military Veterans Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said at a meeting with soldiers at the Dunnottar Military Base near Springs in Gauteng on Friday, South Africa was the first country in the world which had "removed discrimination from our deployment policies". "We should be proud of ourselves," she said.
Mabaya said the framework allowed for certain tasks that could be done by HIV positive soldiers when deployed that did not put them or their colleagues at risk. It also laid out a framework on how to care for HIV positive soldiers in deployment."They will not be deployed on the frontline in combat roles," said Mabaya. "They will be deployed in support roles."
Mabaya said the framework was being studied by the Southern African Development Community, the African Union and the United Nations. "We were consulting them while we developed the framework and they were never negative about it," he said. "Zimbabwe already said they wanted our framework, as they had the same problem as ours." The BBC reported earlier in December that 30% of the soldiers in the SA National Defence Force were infected with HIV.
- The army has already deployed an HIV positive soldier to Sudan as part of peacekeeping operations in the troubled territory of Darfur, the BBC reported..
- HIV-free SANDF 'impossible'
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Excerpt from BBC report:
“On a blustery beach in South Africa's coastal city of Durban, Dumisani Gumbi is going through a tough fitness programme. He is a platoon sergeant with the South African army. He also has the Aids virus.
Dumisani Gumbi says HIV-positive peacekeepers pose no extra dangers. Since 2001 when he was first diagnosed with the disease, his career prospects and chances of being sent overseas have floundered. For years tens of thousands of HIV-positive military men and women like him have faced a blanket ban. A staggering 30% of South African soldiers are infected with the Aids virus. This reality plus a recent test case have forced the South African government to review its policy. "When we are fighting or when we are doing peacekeeping work, we are not biting the people. We're just being peacekeepers like anyone else," Mr Gumbi argues, dismissing fears that deploying soldiers with HIV is likely to increase the spread of the disease.
After a test case brought by one of South Africa's military unions and the Aids Law Project, the government reviewed the evidence and agreed that in certain circumstances HIV-positive soldiers can be deployed overseas if they pass a battery of some 39 fitness tests. "It means people who [have] HIV who are for instance on treatment and who have stabilised and meet minimum requirements will now qualify to be recruited deployed and promoted," explains S'khumbuzo Maphumulo, the lawyer in the case. In what has been called a "nuanced policy", the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) now has to consider each case on its merits and assess the operational requirements of each post. Aids testing for South African soldiers is voluntary but the reality is that if you refuse to get tested then you will not be deployed. READ MORE ON BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8386280.stm